A non-functioning Pakistan is potentially the worst news for Asia, Middle East and UK/USA. Culturally and ethnically Pakistan is a heady mix, and it is quite possible that this will prove too much to be steam-rollered by any mono-culturalist theology. One just hopes that the interested powers - USA, China, India, Saudi, Iran and Israel- stop manipulating or plotting to get leverage. Will Pakistan get over the humps of militarism, Pashtoon-tribal bonds, corruption and anti-democratic forces and begin to cleanse the militant terrorist footprint? One has to hope it does, for the cost of failure will be high and not just for the Pakistanis. The West should stop seeing this as a theatre of war or eulogising and hating in turn, "the noble savages" and spend money on education to counter-act the Saudi financed madrassa wave.

Pakistan and India aren't going anywhere economically without resolving the conflict. India's growth is temporary. Your lower middle class will give you trouble if you don't stop millitary spending soon. Who wants to invade India proper? no one is interested. Just hlding on to Kashmir doesn't require a nuclear sub and 10 billion dollars worth of jets. You could easily hold Pakistan in check with domestically produced weapons. Use your own weapons and give jobs to the poor instead of importing weapons and telling Pakistan what to do. Let Pakistan to its own fate.

India's conflict with Pakistan has always affected Pakistan but not India.
Pakistan has no chance of standing in an intense war for more than a month, so the Indian economy goes untouched.
No one is interested to invade India proper? All most all the terror attacks happen in the India proper. There is no open threat to India proper because of the military might which can only be challenged by China in the whole of Asia.
The cities under threat in the India proper are MUMBAI, BANGALORE, NEW DELHI, KOLKATA, CHENNI etc.

The lower middle class in India are growing to the upper middle class and are mostly receiving compulsory education unlike Pakistan where the growing youth are mostly uneducated and financially backward.
Kashmir dispute is not the focus of any military upgrade, the real issue is the India's Arunachal Predesh conflict with China.
Its not only a territorial dispute between India and China, but has extended to oil dispute in the south-China sea, Aksai Chin mountain range in the Kashmir region, economic competition between these two countries is huge(though both differ in their economies there is a race to the superpower ambition), there is religious dispute as well because China has the largest Buddhist population yet India was announced the center for Buddhism, rivals in the UNO as well, ideological differences and opposing Allies also contribute.
So Pakistan is not worth comparing with India. The real picture is India and China's rivalry. India is doing all its military upgrades so that its can take on a China just in case there is a military conflict with China. Pakistan? who care about it.
Indian society may be backward but India is no poor country, its the fourth largest economy in the planet and is expected to race japan within a decade to acquire the 3rd place.
So if you are comparing India with Pakistan then either you must be overestimating Pakistan's position or being ignorant of India's position or just ill informed.

I don't compare Pakistan and India millitrily or economically. This is one of the first times I've commented on Indian internal matters. I restrict myself to commenting on the conflict between the two countries.

I fail to see India's quest for superpower status without going through the intermediate stages.China has taken whatever it wanted to take from India, and she can take more if she wants to. Aksai Chin is a very feeble excuse in the face of statistics like these:

"Despite growing investment in education, 25% of its population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7%, of the 15% who make it to high school, graduate.[5] As of 2008, India's post-secondary high schools offer only enough seats for 7% of India's college-age population, 25% of teaching positions nationwide are vacant, and 57% of college professors lack either a master's or PhD degree.[6]"" Wikipedia,

You want to have a millitary to beat China? China can beat India now, tomorrow, or any other time. Indians don't have the stomachs to get into a Korean style conflict. If the appetite isn't there, why the rhetoric? India has nuclear weapons, isn't that enough of a defence? You Indians have a Bollywood attitude, believing in cosmetics and stage dressings... you're just robbing the poor to cast a false immage of power and wealth. And then all the excuses....well, we're doing everything... education is cumpulsory...we've put an end to the caste system.. we've done this and done that and we're going to be like Americans in 20 years time..

1.India has been growing at atleat 6% pa or greater for the past 30 years.In which way this is 'temporary'?

2.Even at 6% pa (Currently we are at 7%) we will be the world's third largest economy by 2020 as opposed to Pakistan's which is not even in the top 50(nominal not PPP).

3.Our nuclear sub is built in India as will all but 18 of the 126 Rafale jets ordered so this is a bit different from you buying F-16s.Not to mention significant transfer of technology.So relax there will be plenty of jobs for the poor and not so poor.

4.The Kashmir conflict is the open wound which bleeds Pakistan white.We on the other hand spend the equivalent of pocket change keeping it from Pakistan.

Thank you but I have 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. I'm well fed and my family feeds a few slum dwellers occasionally. I cannot have more of bhojan.
Well MUMBAI,BANGLORE,NEWDEHLI,KOLKATA, CHENNAI, KOLKATA are the cities that are feeding the starving, so I have to worry about them.
KOLKATA is no Naxal HQ. You must be insane to even think of that.

Your statistics are hopeless.
68.38% of Indians hold at lest a degree.
every year 350,000 engineers pass out in India.
Literacy count is based on primary education and most of the Indians get primary education but some of them may fail to make it to the higher education.
When the wiki report was posted there were only about 2000 eng colleges and 1050 MBA colleges but now there are an additional 861 engineering colleges and totally 1600 MBA universities.

I saw the Wikipedia page and at the top of it was written
" This page is outdated pleas update it"
Please read before posting

Nope I relay on Internet blogs and mainly the BBC, CNN, CNBC and other sources.
What ever I post is usually correct because I verify it in multiple locations.
And if the economist blogs about Bollywood I surely would refer Times of India.

Only China will fit that category going forward. Balochistan is being developed by Pakistan with China's help. Indians will soon be evicted from Afghanistan and they will lose all leverage in West Asia.

Rulers of Pakistan should develop extensive trade with India and China. Pakistan is yet to reciprocate India's gesture in conferring upon her the MFN status. India made that gesture many years, if not decades, ago. Pak. army Generals are yet to agree on the reciprocation. "Come on Feudal Generals, show some decency and reciprocate."

Pakistan has good entrepreneurial people. After all, a section of the Hindu Baniyas converted to Islam during the Moghul rule, wishing to benenfit from special favours of the Muslim rulers in Lahore and Delhi.

So if India's business community can propel the country upwards, so can Pakistan's.

In fact, some scholars think that anything India can do Pakistan can do also, except winning military campaigns against India.

Some of these scholars may also be right in thinking that Pakistanis are, from many angles, Indians with Arabic names and a virulent strain of the virus called religion.

Even President Zirdari said once, "There is an Indian in every Pakistani and a Pakistani in every Indian."

There is a degree of truth in that statement. I only realised it after I rented rooms from a Hindu Punjabi land lord in New Delhi.

I propose to ask Ms. Veena Malik for her opinion of Zirdari's statement. She may agree with him. Adnan Sami already has.

So, I await Pakistan's economy registering a growth rate of 10 to 12% per annum.

There is no such concept as 'Pakistani'. Just a crowd on the far side of Indus. And they never won any campaign against anyone. Just got overran and converted. Blood in their veins is still Hindu, brain though is misaligned to Arabia.

Adnan Sami can make money by singing in Punjabi marriages. Zardari can run a business of supplying tents and catering for the same.

Veena Malik is honest. She kept her name true to her blood. She even shed her clothes in a professional photo-shoot and unlike Pakistani generals in a Sheikhs harem

So India was overrun. We are happy about it, as we were 'liberated' from Brahmin caste fascism. Two Nation Theory works. Central/South India also have a large Muslim population. Without getting overrun.

Well Mr. HinduKafir! with all due respect this crowd on the far side of Indus has ruled you for well over a thousand years. And they have won every campaign they have ever undertaken and have repulsed every undertaken against them. its just that we are not interested in India anymore.
Leaving only a few, most comments here are childish. Neither of us, India and Pakistan, will ever be brainless enough to invade each other. As far the MNF status for India is concerned, it has never been an issue in Pakistan, nor, I am sure, has it ever been in India. We sincerely want a peaceful resolution of all disputes with India through a dialogue acceptable to the people of both countries for they are the ones who really matter.

Well for all the History presented, its not complete. I mean no story is complete without the ending right.
Gazni undefeated for 17 invasions was defeated by 'Bheem Dev Solanki' at Somnathpur.
Ghori the first Indian Muslim ruler was shot with an arrow by a blind king called Prithviraj Chowhan.
The great moguls : Humayun was defeated and chased off to turkey by Sher Shah Suri and Aurangzeb was defeated by Shivaji.

Moreover All of these invaders were Arab origin, non of the Pakis are Arab rather you are considered impure and Arabs don't accept you beeing Islamic, so sorry to say this all the history you gave do not belong to you

Again With all due respect, I do not want to prolong the argument, for history is not a perfect science. You can prove anything by quoting the same book of history. But again, non of the Kings or Sultans of Dehli, except the Sayyeds, were Arabs. They were either Turks or Pushtuns. You mentioned Sher Shah. He was a Pushtun of our Sur tribe. Descendents of Ghori still live around Peshawar and so do the descendants of the rest of the invaders that you have mentioned or have not. Pakistani Nation is made up of all of those and many more. And the argument that Arabs donot accept us being Islamic has no consequence, for, to begin with, that is not true. And also No Muslim, or follower of any religion for that matter, cares what do other races of the same faith think.
But if you think there is no such thing as a Pakistani Nation, well think whatever you like.
But again, lets not live in history and concentrate on the present and future. And by the way we do not hate India or Indians. I am surprised to see the amount of hatred that you are showing for us.

Shar Sha was not a Pushtu, he was a Pathan.
Descendants of kings might live now that does not mean anything at all.
It is not what I think that matters right. Well I'll give you proof from the Quran.
these are references in the Quran which limits itself to Arabic

more so the ides 'Dar'ul-Islam'(the world of Islam) limits it to Hizaz(the region of Mecca and Madina)

Chapter XIV verse 4 (HQ,620) specifies
||we sent not an apostle||
||except in the language ||
||of his own people, in order to||
||make things clear to them||

I don't think that any school or any other sources in Pakistan or Afghanistan would have thought this or at least translated it to you.
So now you have to choose..... is Quran the truth or your belief..
If you say that the Quran is the truth then Islam in Pakistan and Afghanistan is just a mask and not a religion.
If otherwise you say that your faith is true then it means that you do not follow the Quran and that concludes the same, that Islam in Pakistan and Afghanistan is not a religion described by the Quran.

Again with all due respect! Its hardly worth prolonging the argument with you sir, for you know so little about us. So little that you dont even know there is absolutely no difference between Pushtuns, Pukhtuns and/or Patthans. They are one and the same race and I myself am one of them. Pathan is an Indian variation of the word Pushtun or Pukhtun. So Good Bye and Take Care.

I have always maintained that the loss of ice cover in the arctic will means lots more snow in the Himalayas. And that means bigger spring/summer floods.

So, come summer and a bigger, wetter monsoon courtesy of increased tropical solar insolation and climate change, will 2012 bring even worse floods than 2011, which were even worse than 2010 (and 2011 wasn't reported on much in the West.

There is only one answer to what looks like perennial ever-worsening floods down the Indus. Everyone with an interest (Kashmir, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China) must get round the table and cooperate before it all becomes a tragedy.

Last time the Indus Valley saw conditions like this the summer floods were hugely worse than now. That was about 10-8,000 years ago.

Surely that's not in India's interest? Don't you want access to that water? It starts in India (and Tibet) after all. Don't you want access to the electricity you can generate as you manage the water? And what about the Chinese? They could dam it all themselves - and have all the electricity themselves.

Given the dreadful way both India and Pakistan have used their bits of Kashmir surely the only answer is to let a united Kashmir be independent. Then both India and Pakistan will have to cosy up to the new country if they are going to get the water/electricity they need. Such a settlement on Kashmir would need not only Indian and Pakistani agreement, but Chinese also. And then there are the earthquakes, which need to be both anticipated and, where possible, mitigated. Only the Americans have any real expertise here. So they have an interest too.

In fact the whole North Western Himalaya complex has an interest, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, even Afghanistan. Central Asia, a potential breadbasket for a burgeoning World population, too.

Of course things could continue as they are with hatred being stirred up on both sides. Two nuclear powers who, if they start throwing their bombs about could cause a billion deaths worldwide in the following nuclear winter. Long before that happens the entire globalised economy would be thrown into chaos, causing many more deaths even than that. How many people on the planet could survive if we were all reduced to hunter-gatherers overnight?

All this Indo-Pakistani hostility is an indulgence the planet cannot afford.

The authors comment: "Some people think that the nuclear winter theory developed in the 1980s was discredited. And they may therefore raise their eyebrows at our new assertion that a regional nuclear war, like one between India and Pakistan, could also devastate agriculture worldwide. But the original theory was thoroughly validated. The science behind it was supported by investigations from the National Academy of Sciences, by studies sponsored within the U.S. military, and by the International Council of Scientific Unions, which included representatives from 74 national academies of science and other scientific bodies. "

If you choose to disagree, do the numbers. The burden of (dis)proof is on you now.

Releasing more water through the dam will generate more electricity. According to norms India can use only a specific amount of water, so well we are happy to release all, the excess water and flood the Pakis.
And Indus does not flow through Tibet

Why attack or bring a regime change in Iran when it is reasonable to do so in Pakistan, instead. Pakistan is the most dangerous State on the planet. How? The 9/11 attack, the LOndon bombing, the Spain-Madrid train bombing, the Mumbai bombing...all originated in/from Pakistan. The attackers were trained there, too, and it is the Pakistan from where extremism, fundamentalism and terrrorism and terrorists get exported to other countries on the planet. Having such an unstable government while being armed with nuclear weapons - if those WMD weapons get into the hands of terrorist groups such Haqqani, Jungawi, Lashakr Taiyeba, Taliban...and all - that have close ties with Al-Qaeda, then that will be a serious threat for the West.

It seems hardly likely that the Madrid bombings in Spain had any links to Pakistan since they were carried out by Moroccans . The Moroccan secret services actually tracked the terrorists down to a villa in northern Morocco and after a long fire-fight ensued, the terrorist were either captured, killed or blew themselves up. Please do your research!

Great article. Especially like the part where the Pakistani business guy attempts a cable car narrative vis-a-vis his country. It is the perfect example of a leading you around the garden path story as often encountered personally. Cracked me up good.

The truth is though, ever since its conception Pakistan has owed its continued existence to a strong military grip, that which once relinquished could raise the spectre of ethnic separatism that could spell the possible disintegration of the Pakistani state as we now know it. The military brass would never let that happen.

But for Pakistan to realise its full potential, civilian rule has to take a much more central stage and be allowed to flex its full functional muscle without undue martial interference. Interference which more often than not only serves to promote more security doubts (Benazir Bhutto's assassination and harbouring of freewheeling Taliban within its borders) and turmoil, ingredients of major turn off for any potential investors.

Pakistan can only begin to thrive when its military relinquish its strangling hold and influence on matters and ONLY do what it is supposed to do. But for that to happen would almost be like expecting Homer Simpson to go on a slim down program and stop eating donuts.

I had to check that this article was not written by the Pakistani Promotional Board, it unfortunately paints a picture that does demonstrate just what a failed nation this is! The state was founded on premise that a country based entirely on a faith would progress, has it? I think not and despite having no one else to blame but themselves they see devils everywhere. Look in a mirror - there is the problem.

Pakistan (translated as "pure place") was created based on Islam. Once all the non-Muslims were thrown out/murdered (and everyone living there was a Muslim), they 'discovered' that the Punjabis and Pushtuns were superior, the Sindhis one level lower and Bengalis and Mojahirs were completely inferior (and all the other ethnic groups somewhere in the mix, these levels being determined by skin color and fighting ability).
And they have been murdering each other since (the most significant being the genocide of half a million Bengalis in 1971).

Once for a longer period the capitalists and feudal lords clung the control of Pakistan and used military to keep the general mass away from politics to have their interests unscathed. Now it kicks back. Lurching toward own interests the Pakistan military branded the Pakistani politicians (mostly rich people) as venal. Generals trade with the US. It seems the path is clear for Pakistan to utilize its opportunities by implicating the people in the body politic which would made them to think the state is for them. Consciousness and patriotism would be invigorated; so that aberration to militancy, Islamism, al-Quida and more will expected to be dissuaded. The feudalistic and rich politicians and the starred Generals are contending each other keeping the common mass away which seems difficult to extricate from abject economy and smarting from the recent scorn by the US. Those Pakistani tycoons are held responsible who had made military as the 'juggernaut setback'.

PAKISTAN CARVED OUT OF INDIA AT THE TIME OF TRANSFER OF POWER IN 1947 BY THE BRITISHERS IS REELING UNDER ONE TROUBLE AFTER THE OTHER. UNFORTUNATELY ARMY IS THE MOST POWERFUL INSTITUTION IN PAKISTAN AND NO GOVERNMENT CAN BE IN PEACE SINCE ARMY DOES NOT RELENT THE POWER. TRUE THE YOUNG NATION IS SURROUNDED BY TWO GROWING GIANTS INDIA AND CHINA AND HAVING PERPETUAL TROUBLE WITH AFGHANISTAN. PEOPLE ARE INTELLIGENT AND HARDWORKING. THE NEED IS TO LIBERALISE THE PREVALENT SYSTEM AND ENCOURAGE TOLERANCE. A DECADE OF DOMINANCE BY TALIBANS AND HOME GROWN TERRORISTS HAVE DONE IMMENSE DAMAGE TO PAKISTAN AND ITS ECONOMY. IT IS HIGH TIME DEMOCRACY TAKES DEEP ROOTS, ECONOMY GROWS, DEFENCE EXPENDITURE GETS CURTAILED AND HAPPY TRADE RELATIONS ARE ESTABLISHED WITH ITS IMMEDIATE NEIGHBOURS. IT IS THE HIGH TIME THE COUNTRY EXPLOITS ITS NATURAL RESOURCES FOR THE BENEFIT OF MASSES.

"Bastion of moderation" is a sobriquet Pakistan has been steadily moving away from since the 80s, starting from General Zia.

The idea of Pakistan that has been adopted by the polity and the public there is itself faulty. It sees itself as a fortress of Islam, born for protecting the religion and its adherents from infidels and increasingly, from their influences. This thought stalks the national psyche and keeps manifesting itself in one form or the other from time to time.

If only there were someone charismatic enough to convince people that a modern, secular, democratic and Muslim majority Pakistan is not only possible but is actually an imperative idea.

By definition China has been a dysfunctional for millenniums,acquired nuclear fire power that prompted India for me too effect.....

Why single out Pakistan?

Any cornered animal will use all that nature has endowed for its self preservation.Nation States no different,nuclear or otherwise.

Nation States are not like multinational,dysfunctional or otherwise, like BP,IMF.... or credit rating agencies,the bogus Standard and poor and others for example,awarding , benchmarking financial health checks,fraudulent agencies to bully smaller nations.

All dreamt up after WW2 by the USA including dysfunctional United Nations,embarrassing sorethumb for decades,global mafia club.

In real world, western capitalism,democracy,education,health system,social security,banks,bankers... are all part of the same carnival wearing proverbial kings clothes.

Labelling Somalia,Sudan,Yemen as dysfunctional,disfunctional,failed,dying,dead,non-existant is sign of intllectual bankruptcy of a braying donkey loaded with books only good at back kicks nothing else..egoist brat at worst.

The USA used nuclear weapons against the Japanese, because the Japanese leader stated publicly that they would continue the war with America, even though Germany had been defeated.

The USA had just developed a nuclear bomb, for the sole reason of ending this world war, and mainly its need to avoid losing its own troops fighting in it.

Most of the knowledge of the negative after effects of a nuclear weapon, come from studying the results of these bombs. Theory can only be proved with evidence, this is the difference between a theory and a proven theory.

What we know now, given the amount of time that has passed, about the after effects of a nuclear explosion, was not known in such detail before they had been used.

Please could you clarify what you have stated.? I do not understand what you mean by a "vindictive sense", I think you mean negative comments about Pakistan, though please correct me if I am wrong.

I also do not understand your next comment. Which "malicious thoughts of international politics" are you referring to? Is this a reference to your interpretation of the border dispute between China, India and Pakistan?

I am not so learned to correct you. But I hope you would consider the following facts:

Usama bin Laden couldn’t have been a national treasure of any country. He was a fugitive cave dweller in Afghanistan terrorized the US using militant tactics. US Navy operations in Abottabad have not been authenticated by live evidence in public. All the live witnesses died in a chopper crush said to be caused by Taliban attack. Merely some NATO ally foisted the operation. Pakistan bears the blemish like a clod pole. It might have been the political conundrum to end the Afghan war. Pakistan won’t be contrasted with any pirate state as it fought against militancy with the US. Pakistan might have collusion with Taliban as any measure to defend country against India, their arch rival with which the US embraced. Also from now on the US administration doesn’t feel Talibans are violent threat for them. It’s true military-militancy-civil-judiciary made Pakistan dysfunctional.

However, I don't be nugatory or emotional on political/international affairs. Rather try to remain candid and fair to look into authentication of information. I am happy to exchange views with you.

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate your response, though it does raise some additional questions.

I understand your comments, though I have to ask about the fact that Usama Bin Laden, was living comfortably in Pakistan, not hiding in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government were not told by the US about their attempt to capture/kill Usama Bin Laden.

This would lead me to believe, that the US did not trust their Pakistani contacts completely, hence the raid without their knowledge or consent. This makes me question your statement "Pakistan bears the blemish like a clod pole", when it seems to be that some elements of the Pakistani army and political system were supporting him for some time.

This fact makes me question your view that Pakistan is so innocent, as he was not hiding in caves in Afghanistan. he was living comfortably in Pakistan. I do not know how long he was in Pakistan, but that would explain why the US could not find him in Afghanistan, despite searching for many years with the most well equipped hunters on the planet.

I would like to hear your interpretation of these facts, as it does question your reasoning very strongly. Also, I would also like to know why you state India as your arch-rival. Do you mean this as a competitor in the commercial and industrial sector? Could you explain what you mean when you say India is an arch-rival. If you do mean in the commercial and industrial sectors, then Pakistan will need to address its own internal governance and productivity, to be a better competitor.

Once again, thank you for your response, and I look forward to hearing your reply.

I did not realise that Bin Laden's location was in question. On what basis do you make this claim? All of the immediate reports, through respected news agencies, of his killing stated that he was killed in Pakistan. Please could you inform me as to which news agency contests this issue?

Again you have provided an incomplete reply. I understand the point you are repeatedly trying to make, but they are just your statements. The Economist reported his killing and has not issued a retraction, or update to say it was not in Pakistan.

Also, I do not understand why you say that India is Pakistan's rival. It outperforms Pakistan economically, and so they do not really compete with each other. Do you mean rival as in military force? Or do you mean with social issues?

Please could you provides some sources for your information? As it seems I am not getting the full story, and I would like to know where I can research the issues you raise.